The Story of Us
by warmestbloggerever
Summary: A one-shot which follows Jack and Elsa through three beginnings in their relationship. Modern!Au.


**Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! It's been ages since I last posted something. Please, forgive (and tell me of!) any mistakes I might have made, and forgive me for the lame title (it's inspired by the Taylor Swift song, but it has nothing to do with it).**

 **This one-shot is inspired by the following prompt, found on joetoyes's tumblr, "escaped to the laundry room to avoid hearing my room-mates having extremely loud sex only to find you're here doing the same thing".**

 **Anyway, I hope you like this. Have fun!**

 **Disclaimer: Frozen and Rise of the Guardians, along with their characters, don't belong to me. They belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

Elsa didn't see the guy in the laundry room.

It was past 10 PM and the room was dark. Besides, Elsa had plugged in her earbuds and was getting satisfyingly lost in the alternative rock from the 90s. It was when her head hit something — in this case, _someone_ — that she realized she wasn't alone.

"Sorry!" She shrieked, stepping away from the person she'd hit and taking her earbuds off. "I didn't see you there."

"It's... okay." A male voice she didn't know said. The little light in the room came from their phones, and she recognized him. They had never really talked, or, for the matter, interacted beyond a few acknowledging nods in the hallways, now and then. "It's Elsa, right?"

"Yep. And you're...?"

"Jackson Overland, ma'am, delighted to meet you." She chuckled and they shook hands. "Let me turn on the light." She heard his steps getting farther away from her and then the room was bright. She automatically closed her eyes due to the sudden light.

"Sorry." He said, sounding sincere. Elsa forced her eyes to open and saw his grimace of regret. The light had blinded him too.

"It's okay." She told him and sit on the floor, resting her back on one of the machines. Jackson hesitated for a moment, but then imitated her, sitting a few of inches beside the woman.

"So. May I ask you what drove you to a dark, empty laundry room at—" Elsa checked the clock on her phone. "11:26 in a school night?"

Jackson chuckled, but his ears got red. He thought a little before answering, as if deciding how he could put the story into words. "My roommate's girlfriend came around and I was kicked out of the room. You know, bromance means nothing nowadays. Your buddy finds a girl and puff! Disappears." He mockingly said, staring at some point above from the machines in front of them.

"It's the same with my sister." Elsa said, surprising herself. She didn't remember making a conscious choice to speak. "I mean, she found this _guy_. I was kicked out of my room too, by the way. Family means nothing nowadays." She joked, drawing a grin from him.

"So, united by the same tragic story of being replaced by a romantic interest, huh?" He looked at her, a gleam of amusement in his brown eyes.

"This requires a sad high-five." Elsa agreed, and they high-fived, then laughed.

"So... What's your major in?" He asked after seconds of a somewhat awkward silence.

"Law." Elsa said with a sigh. Jackson whistled.

"Brave girl."

"Oh, it's... Definitely not a brave thing, actually." She told him, drawing a hand to her hair, which was tied in a bun. "I just did it because my parents really, _really_ wanted me to do it."

Jackson grimaced. "Sorry about it."

Elsa shook her head. "It's fine. It's a cool course. I just... Can't imagine what it will be like to _work_ as a lawyer. No matter how long I've stayed here, I still haven't got really used to the idea." Her voice died down, drowned in dread.

Jackson stayed silent for a moment, not quite sure what to say. "Well... Would it be really bad? Their reaction, I mean?" He explained at the sight of her confused look.

"Oh. I don't know. It was just their dream to see their daughter as a successful lawyer and my parents are great. Seriously. I didn't have the heart to tell them I want to do Social Studies instead."

His lips twitched upward.

"Well, it's your life. Like, your entire life that's in discussion here. And, this is just my opinion, but if your parents really are great and everything, I think they wouldn't be mad. They would be proud, actually, of seeing their daughter go after her own life and everything." He looked away from her again, now staring at his hands with careful attention. His ears were red, and the sight made Elsa feel sudden fondness for this guy.

"Thank you, Jack. I mean, Jackson." She corrected herself, feeling her cheeks getting warmer. However, he only laughed.

"Jack is fine." He told her, and they fell into a more comfortable silence.

She was the one to break it.

"So, what's _your_ major?" She asked, realizing once again that it would be rude of her not to ask. Interacting with strangers was not one of her strongest skills.

"English. I wanna be a teacher." He replied in a mechanic, emotionless voice, as if he had done it a million times and already knew what her reaction would be. In fact, he expected a mocking laughter, a roll of eyes or a more aggressive answer, but instead her jaw dropped a little.

"Wow, that's so cool! Teaching is beautiful. I loved English in high school." She rambled, and Jack stared at her, his eyes wide for a moment.

"Thank you." He said, incapable of keeping the surprise away from his voice, and Elsa merely smiled in response.

After that, both of them were quiet. Elsa kept listening to her playlist, enjoying her few moments of peace, letting herself relax. She had thought about bringing a textbook with her — or actual laundry to be done — but she wasn't in the mood. Besides, if she was being honest to herself, Anna and Hans's... doing-the-do process didn't take _that_ long.

Reason #19 on Why She Didn't Really Like Hans: the occasional visits he gave Anna were short, focused only on himself, basically. Elsa wouldn't have cared, but Anna had cried in her shoulder more than once, whimpering about how hard it was to establish a real connection between her and Hans, how used she'd feel sometimes.

If Elsa was the one in this situation, she wouldn't have thought twice about telling Hans to go to the darkest pits of hell and to keep the fuck away from her. _But_ , this was Anna. Sweet, caring, trusting, everyone-has-good-in-them Anna, who had faith in everyone. _Especially_ in her first boyfriend Hans. Every time she saw him, though, Elsa could only remember Anna sobbing.

She just wanted the opportunity to punch him in the face and break something.

With a sigh, she took off her earbuds. The music was suddenly too happy and cheering for her foul mood.

"What's the problem?" Jackson asked, alarmed, taking off his own earbuds.

Elsa shook her head, meaning she didn't want to talk about it, but Jack sighed.

"You can tell me. I won't tell anyone." He promised, a kind smile on his lips. Elsa smiled a little.

"It's just... I wanna punch my sister's boyfriend. And... tell him to go to hell." She shrugged, looking away from him in embarrassment, but the man only laughed out loud.

"Oh, I know the feeling. It's the same with my little sister. I mean, she's not so _little_ anymore. It's her first semester here, and somehow she just started dating the world's biggest douche bag." He glanced up at the ceiling, as if waiting for the universe to tell him _why_.

"I know, right?" Elsa's grin widened. "Who is the douche you wanna punch?"

"Hans Westergaard." Jack replied, despise clear in his voice, but Elsa was sure she hadn't heard correctly. Her smile vanished completely.

"What did you just say?"

"Hans Westergaard...?" Jackson looked at her, seeming concerned once again when he saw her pale face.

"He... Dated you sister?"

"No, they're still together. Why?" Jack was almost afraid to ask.

Elsa's reply was to narrow her eyes and curl her fingers into a fist. "This is the opportunity the universe gave me." She murmured and stood up, turning her back to him and going toward the exit. Jackson stood up a moment after, more confused than ever.

"Opportunity for what? Elsa, wait!" He called, jogging in order to keep up with her quick steps.

They were already on the stairs when they heard some kind of commotion happening up in the girls' dormitories. It sounded like someone was shouting.

Both Elsa and Jack started to run toward the sound. For Elsa's horror, it was on the floor of her dormitory. A thousand possibilities ran through her mind, from a fire to an assault to a fight that might get out of hand to a murder—

 _Jesus, Elsa, chill._ She told herself mentally, but, of course, it didn't work.

Not when the shouting came undoubtedly from her dormitory.

She ran, pushing the crowd of curious students out of her way as she got into her room. The vision confused her for a moment, but then pure joy filled her every single thought.

"Santa arrived early." She whispered to herself.

Hans was lying on the ground, his arms covering his face as Anna beat him up with _a freaking pillow_ , all while wearing only her pajamas, and he had only his pants on. Elsa would have laughed if Hans wasn't yelling that she was hurting him. The blonde knew from experience that Anna was stronger than she realized, and as much as she would enjoy watching Hans getting his ass beat up forever, she also knew he was a spoiled brat who could easily go to the police just to fuck up their lives.

"Anna," She called, getting closer to her furious sister and putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough for now." She said, her voice firm and clear, low enough so only Anna, and maybe Hans, listened.

"But he—he..." Anna sighed and beat Hans with the pillow again, hard enough for him to moan in pain. "This freaking... _douche bag_." She almost shouted in rage — the worst word Anna could summon even in a moment like this —, and Elsa had to take the pillow out of her hands to prevent another attack from happening.

"Look, he deserves it, I _know_ , but this is enough for now." Elsa repeated, holding Anna's hand — which she had curled up into a fist. Elsa didn't like the witnesses that had gathered by their door, just observing the scene. Besides, Hans _might_ be seriously hurt. "Let's just let him go."

Anna grunted in frustration, but other than that didn't do anything.

"Stand up, get the hell out." Elsa told Hans in a voice that couldn't hide her satisfaction in the least. He stood up with a grimace, and looked down at both of them with fury in this eyes.

"You disgusting bitches." He started. "It's lucky of you that I—FUCK!" He yelled when Anna kicked him in the groin, then managed to punch him in the face, as hard as Elsa had imagined countless times.

There wasn't a crack, but Hans's eyes watered as his hands covered the place where he'd been kicked. He moaned in pain twice, then turned and left without another word — wisely.

For the sisters' eternal surprise, the crowd exploded in cheers and applause. The girls, and some boys that were there for God knows what, ran into the room and lifted Anna in the air, as if she was their hero. The redhead's eyes were wide with shock, but a moment later she giggled, rejoicing in the sensation.

"Can you give me an autograph?" Someone yelled at Anna, but Elsa didn't see who did it. She had turned, and Jackson was there, grinning just like she was. His eyes had a mischievous gleam in them.

"It's sad you didn't get to punch him too." He commented. Elsa laughed and shook her head.

"Believe me, this was much better."

That was the beginning of their friendship.

* * *

Ten weeks later their midterms were over, thankfully. In celebration, Elsa and Anna, along with their new friends — basically, Jack's friends — decided to go to Punzie's apartment and do absolutely nothing useful.

Literally, all of them were splattered around the living room doing random things. Hiccup and Astrid were playing video games, discussing their strategy on how to beat up the enemy in a loud, excited voice. Punzie, Emma — that was Jack's sister — and Anna were painting one another's nails. Merida was reading a book, huge headphones on her ears. Elsa was lying on the floor, her head over Jack's chest, and he was also lying there, playing with her hair.

Truth be told, she was almost sleeping. She had drunk unholy amounts of coffee this week in the hopes of it keeping her awake for a couple of hours. The last time she slept a full eight hours was probably three weeks ago.

 _But_ Jack was nervous about something. She knew it because he'd rant about something completely random, then change topics abruptly, as if purposefully trying to keep one thought off his mind.

She'd never take the good nap she needed like this.

With a sigh, she got off his chest and supported herself on her elbows, looking at him straight in the eyes. His rant about astronauts, pizza and Plato's philosophy — Elsa had no idea how he got there — died down.

"So, what's going on with you these days? Midterms are over, so don't come with this excuse." She warned him.

Jackson gulped. "It's... nothing, really. I'm fine." He gave her a weak smile that didn't even fool himself, so he let it fade.

"Okay, that's it. I'm tired of waiting, Jack." Elsa declared, sitting up. Alarm hit his eyes and he copied her moves, reaching one hand to hold hers.

"Waiting for what?" Jack asked, a small, but detectable, amount of fear in his voice. Elsa shook her head.

"Waiting for you to ask me out or _something_." Elsa fumed. "Hiccup told me _weeks_ ago that you wanted to do it so I waited, and waited and waited, and _nothing_."

For a moment, Jack forgot how to make words coherent. He knew he'd have to fucking murder Hiccup and his big mouth later, but other than that, not a thought got concrete in his mind.

" _S-Sorry_?" Jack stuttered. Elsa watched as his entire face got pink, and sighed.

"Is that all?"

"N-No—" He started, but Elsa raised one hand in a "stop" gesture, effectively interrupting him.

"Let me do it. Jack, would you like to go out with me sometime, in a date?" She asked in a clear, polite voice. He blinked twice and nodded quickly.

"Sure." He said, and Elsa smiled.

"Great! Now lay down again. I need to sleep." She murmured. He obeyed, and she snuggled in his arms, resting her head on the crook of his neck.

"Hm, good night." She mumbled, her eyes closed.

"Good night." Jack whispered, caressing her hair once again after a while.

That was the beginning of their relationship.

* * *

 _Fuck._ Elsa thought. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck fu—_

"Elsa, breathe." Anna reminded her sister for the thirtieth time in ten minutes.

"I'm gonna die." Elsa murmured, her voice strangely composed despite the turbulence of emotions she felt.

"Elsa, it's a wedding, not an execution." Anna said, her eyebrows raised. As every time when the word "wedding" was mentioned, her lips curled up into a happy smile.

"I'm gonna faint in the middle of the corridor and _die_ and it's going to be the most embarrassing wedding ever." Elsa said, trying to make her sister _understand_ she couldn't do it.

It was funny. She had tried on this dress too many times to count, and he had fitted perfectly then. But now she felt out of breath in it, as if she was wearing a too tight corset instead of a wedding dress.

Anna sighed and took Elsa's hands in her own.

"Relax. This is your day. Yours and Jack's. You just have to go up there and tell him you love him, then it's over, and it's going to be beautiful. Okay?" Anna made it sound so simple.

She was a bit more realistic now, but still conserved her romantic dreams. _Especially_ after Kristoff. He gave her a lot of hope, and she dreamed more than ever now.

But the good thing was that her dreams were becoming reality more and more often in this relationship, maybe not in the exact way she'd imagined, but somehow even better.

"We'll be there the entire time." Elsa nodded, knowing that "we" was their entire family and all of their friends, which wasn't exactly as comforting as Anna imagined. "Take a deep breath."

Elsa obeyed mechanically, then took another deep breath. Alcohol would be great right now, but she would find a way to kick her own ass in case she ruined the dress or became a drunk bride.

 _If Anna believes in you, you can do it. You can do it_. She told herself, which didn't make her feel any less nervous, but gave her some focus and courage. _You can do it_.

The door of the small room they were in burst opened, and their father came inside. "We go in five." He said, barely hiding his own nervousness with the whole thing, and just like that, Elsa was panicking again.

"Dad, I go and you start counting until ten, slowly— _Elsa, breathe_." Anna said, then turned to her father and gave him more instructions. Elsa didn't hear a word. There was a low buzzing in her ears.

"Breathe, you dork." Anna was there, suddenly, right in front of the blonde, her face filled with fondness. Elsa breathed in slowly, and the buzzing stopped after a while. "Your future hubbie is waiting." She hugged her sister. "I wish you all the happiness in the world, Elsa."

Then Anna smiled to her one last time before grabbing her bouquet and leaving the room, into the hall.

 _Count 'til ten._

"You're...You're _beautiful_ , honey." Adgar said, his voice husky, heavy with the emotion of the occasion. "I hope you two are very happy together."

"Thanks, dad." Elsa managed to choke out, then cleared her throat. She automatically held the bouquet her father handed her.

Adgar held her other hand and took it to the crook of his elbow, then lead her to the door. "Ready?"

"No."

He breathed in. "Me neither. Let's go, then."

It was days later, revisiting the moment, when Elsa had an important insight. The reason why, traditionally, fathers took their daughters to the altar. It was because they wouldn't be able to do it _by themselves_.

Elsa's entire body trembled, one hand gripping the bouquet so hard her knuckles hurt, and the other hanging onto her father for support. Her steps were mechanic, and her vision was so blurred from tears forming that she couldn't see a damn thing. Walking toward that altar alone would have been an impossible task.

Then their hands were joined, and she looked up to her future husband's face. His smile didn't express all the happiness he was feeling right then, she could tell. It was the sight of him, of his ecstatic eyes, that miraculously made her somewhat calm down.

The Father started saying things she listened to carefully but forgot the second after. All she could see and perceive was Jack, Jack, Jack. Her love for him was taking over all her senses.

He said his vows first, thankfully, or she might not have even noticed it was their turn to speak. Unsurprisingly, tears streamed down her face when he told the whole world about how much he loved her. She already knew all of that, but it was even more special now, somehow.

The real surprise — for her, at least — was seeing tears stream down _his_ face when she managed to speak her vows. Later, she thanked the universe for her tendency of over-stressing over things, because it was this little annoying habit that made her memorize every single word of her speech and keep her from forgetting it in the right time.

"I do." He said then, promising to cherish and love her until death brought them apart.

"I do." She said, promising to do the same with him.

Then they kissed, everyone in the hall bursting into applauds and cheers. It was messy, wet from their tears, but nonetheless too quick for their liking. They stared at each other's eyes then, and he hugged her.

And that was the beginning of their lives together as one.


End file.
